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Let's start with Ebix. The provider of insurance industry enterprise software shed more than half of its value after a deal to acquire the company was called off in light of a U.S. criminal probe into Ebix's accounting practices. Ebix tried to woo back the bulls by committing to repurchase $100 million worth of its now deflated stock over the next two years, but the market wasn't swayed by the move.

Eagle Bulk Shipping shares sank after Greece's Excel Maritime and South Korea's STX Pan Ocean initiated bankruptcy protection earlier this month. This is the kind of shakeout that would normally be interpreted as bullish for the survivors, but Eagle Bulk's own iffy financial state has many investors bailing before it potentially has to do the same thing to appease creditors.

Fortuna Silver Mines also stumbled despite seemingly uplifting the news. The Vancouver-based silver and base metal producer, pursuing mining opportunities in Latin America, announced that it had completed the acquisition of the Taviche Oeste concession, which contains the Trinidad North discovery. Fortuna also announced an expanded production plan for the San Jose Mine in Mexico.

However, while metal prices continue to languish, it's hard for investors to rally behind the companies increasing their exposure to the silver market.

Celldex stumbled even after Jim Cramer reaffirmed his bullish stance on the cancer-tackling biotech.

"Celldex is doing groundbreaking work in one of the hottest parts of the oncology universe," Cramer told Mad Money viewers last month. "These are drugs that use the body's natural defenses -- the immune system -- to target and destroy cancer cells."

To be fair, even after this past week's 12% drop, Celldex is still trading nicely higher than it was when Cramer talked it up in the pre-teens late last month. But a reiteration of his stance on Wednesday was no match for the market's steep sell-off on Thursday.

Finally, we have Hovnanian leading the way lower for homebuilders, after the Federal Reserve hinted that it may start scaling back on plans to keep interest rates down. Mortgage rates have recently climbed to 12-month highs, and if rates keep moving higher, it will probably force real estate developers to scale back on their buoyant asking prices.

Ready for a bounce If you owned some of these losers, how about following the smart money into winners?

Author

Rick has been writing for Motley Fool since 1995 where he's a Consumer and Tech Stocks Specialist. Yes, that's a long time with more than 20,000 bylines over those 22 years. He's been an analyst for Motley Fool Rule Breakers and a portfolio lead analyst for Motley Fool Supernova since each newsletter service's inception. He earned his BBA and MBA from the University of Miami, and he splits his time living in Miami, Florida and Celebration, Florida.
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